Rosebel gold mine Suriname notes profit for 2011

The Canadian-based Rosebel gold mine Suriname announced a gross income of 608 million dollars and a net profit of 196 million dollars for 2011.

The Suriname government has earned some 156,5 million dollars through taxes, dividend for 2011 and its 5% royalties fee.

Local spending reached about 143 million US dollars.

"All of this is a major contribution to the Suriname economy", natural resources minister Jim Hok said at a press conference on Friday, after the company's shareholders meeting.

With a total operation cost of 302 million dollars and capital investment of 73 million dollars, the company stated it production cost increased from $483 an ounce in 2010 to $611 and ounce last year with a production of 406.000 ounces (attributable gold production is 385.000 ounces) and exploration costs of 22 million dollars.

In its 2012 outlook, the company said it expected to invest a total of 550 million dollars before 2016 "in on-going operations activities."